ALLENDALE, MI -- Grand Valley State University's $2.9 milllion renovation of its football stadium is ahead of schedule thanks to Mother Nature.

Renovations to Lubbers Stadium, which opened in 1973, include dropping the field eight feet, adding seats and changing the field from grass to turf.

Grand Valley athletic director Tim Selgo is pleased with the progress of the project.

“It's right on schedule -- the weather has been great, so it's easily on schedule.” Selgo said. “You are seeing progress every week when you go out there. It's starting to take shape now, now that they are putting in retaining walls, drainage for the field and the berm at the north end zone.”

The project, which began after the final home game in November, is slated to be completed in mid-August before the Lakers' first home game Sept. 8 against Notre Dame College (Ohio). During halftime, the school will re-dedicate the stadium.

In the meanwhile, the team will host its annual spring game at 6 p.m. April 14 at Houseman Field.

According to Selgo, the Lubbers Stadium improvements were a must considering the football team's success over the past decade. The Lakers have become a national force, winning four NCAA Division II national championships and finishing twice as runner-up.

That success has packed Lubbers beyond the 8,950-seat capacity, prompting the renovations and expansion.

“Everybody realized we needed to make some renovations to the stadium and expand our seating,” Selgo said. “Over the past 10 years, that has been obvious. We have made improvements over the years, like adding student seating and restrooms and concessions, but everybody realized we needed to bring Lubbers Stadium up to the level to give us a stadium to make the man it is named after (former GVSU president Arend Lubbers) proud of.”

The new seating capacity will be about 11,000, the average number of fans in attendance at home games during the past decade.

“We expanded to this size based on averages, plus it was more or less what we can do with the footprint of the stadium now,” Selgo said. “We also wanted to be a venue that is full most of the time, so we didn't want to go much more than 11,000. And more the seats you put in, the more they cost, that's why we chose 11,000.

“We now have additional seating, not only for our students, but for the general public,” he added.

Heading into next weekend's spring game, Selgo thinks Houseman Field a perfect substitute while work continues on Lubbers.

“Perhaps there are people who haven't seen Laker football, now they could get a glimpse of us downtown," Selgo said. "We have had a history of playing there, we played some games there back in the old days, and last played there in 1997 and 1998, so we thought it was the perfect site.”

As for the future of Lubbers Stadium, Selgo says there are future plans, as well as other facilities.

“We have more things we want to do in the stadium, including a visiting team locker room, officials locker room and additional concessions and rest rooms, along with new press box, president's box and suites. But that's down the road, we hope to make those improvements sometime in the future.

“And there are always facilities improvements to make,” he added. “We have an arena and pool that are 30 years old. At some point we will address those facilities. Right now the goal is Lubbers.”